Houston Police Department

One of the organizations that organize and sponsor these trainings is the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). JINSA is a think tank that advocates for US-Israeli security cooperation, increased domestic military spending, and military aid to Israel, and has board members with close ties to US defense contractors. JINSA launched its Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP) shortly after 9/11, and since 2002 has run annual trips to Israel for US federal, state, and local law enforcement. Over 11,000 additional American law enforcement officials have attended LEEP conferences nationwide, which bring in Israeli security officials as experts.

The Police Department of Houston, Texas, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Charles A. McClelland, Jr. served as Chief of Houston Police Department between 2010 and 2016. Chief McClelland attended a training in Israel with JINSA as a delegate of the LEEP program in June 2011. Charles McClelland was replaced with Art Acevedo who has been serving as the Chief of Houston Police Department since 2016. Chief Acevedo attended a training in Israel with JINSA as a delegate of a “Hispanic Leadership Trip” when he was Chief of the Police Department of Austin, Texas.